In 1998 the merger of British Petroleum and Amoco created one of the world’s largest oil and petrochemical groups, providing its customers with energy for heat and light, fuel for transportation, retail services, and petrochemical products.

Project goals:

1. Develop a brand that would unite the employees from two merged companies.

2.Signal that the merged company is a strong global brand.

3. Create an online resource and other tools to ensure that their actions align with their core values.

Landor Associates began by reviewing the existing research of the two companies and then conducting their own research on the equity of the two existing brands.  They used a very rigorous process to affirm what made the brands unique, compelling, and differentiated.  During workshops, the senior managers and executives worked collaboratively to substantiate the core values and attributes of the new brand, which led to a commitment to transform the organization and transcend the petroleum sector.

After assessing the strengths and weakness of numerous naming options, Landor Associates strongly recommended that the merging companies retain the BP name based on its significant equity, high-quality perception, and global heritage. The theme “Beyond Petroleum”, developed by Ogilvy & Mather, was recommended as a central concept to unify all actions, behaviors, and communications for the BP brand.  It signaled a BP imperative to go beyond conventional ways of thinking and doing.

Lord John Browne Group Chief Executive state, “We need to reinvent the energy business, to go beyond petroleum.  Not by abandoning oil and gas, but by improving the ways in which it is used and produced so that our business is aligned with the long-term needs of the world.”

Did you Know?

• BP’s logo, the helios, is named after the sun god of ancient Greece
• BP employs over 96,000 people in 100 countries around the world

The MINI Cooper  was designed by Sir Alex Issogonis in 1959.  By the mid 1960’s it had reached superstar status.  It was a car owned by the rich and famous.  In 2001 the company decided to relaunch the car in the American market and reintroduce the legend.

Some goals the company held during this relaunch included launching a small car in the land of SUVs, achieving sales targets in North America, developing the MINI brand experience, creating a campaign that generated a buzz, and transforming the MINI to American iconic status.

Crispin Porter + Bogusky was hired to relaunch the MINIs into the market of the United States, where SUVs dominated the roads and small car sales were at a fifteen-year low. The client wanted to prevent the car from becoming a fad car or a car that only appealed to women. (Did they get what they wanted?)  To find solutions to these problems CP+B looked at numerous fad icons and identified the ten characteristics of iconic brands. To their discovery MINI had the most important of these-a defining signature look and a unique ability to elicit a physical or emotional reaction. CP+B’s goal was then to create endless opportunities for people to come in contact with the MINI, and to do it on a budget that was 10% of what a goliath U.S. automobile company would spend.

CP+B’s creative solution was “Let’s Motor” and all copy was written to capture the fun and exhilarating driving experience.  Media planners purchased borders of editorial pages of national magazines for the first time.  MINI was a centerfold in Playboy and cover of the Weekly World News.  MINI was launched without a national television campaign, a historical feat.

One year after the brand was launched its awareness had quadrupled and sales had exceeded expections by 50%.  In 2003 the MINI was named North American car of the year.

MINI takes the States http://www.miniusa.com/#/learn/gallery/video-m

www. miniusa.com

Gatorade was originally created to help hydrate Florida football players, but has  become an iconic brand over the years.   In recent years, TBWA has helped Gatorade create one of its more familiar slogans, “Is it in you?”.  It asked whether you were serious enough as an athlete to do what is necessary for peak performance — such as not cramping up when you are sweating your body salts away at maximum exertion.  Everyone enjoyed this campaign when Gatorade managed not to over exaggerate the powers of their drink.

However, in Gatorade’s new rebranding everyone has not been as positive, especially among the family members for the man who is credited with inventing the legendary beverage.  The first commercial for the new branding appeared about two to three weeks ago in the Rose Bowl.  Initially, many people could not even figure out what the “G” stood for.  There was no mention of Gatorade in the entire commercial.  Some people said they thought it was a NIKE commercial because of its accosiaton with athletes.  Unfortunately, that was probably one of the nicer comments regarding the commercials and new branding.

There have been many negative comments concerning racism seen in the commercials to the font choice seen on the packaging.  Some people like the new font while others hate it, but the majority have ruled the “G” to be a horrible idea.  One person even stated:

“There are, of course, also many ways for this to go wrong. One, again, is to oversell the product efficacy. But here there’s also a glimmer of something potentially more sinister: embracing “G” to mirror urban street parlance for substances far less benign than Gatorade. In a world where X stands for Ecstasy and H stands for heroin, you’d better take care how you sling around your Gs. This is no place for slumming or radical chic.”

I suppose this is a possibility, but it seems rather dramatic to me.  The new logo and packaging is exactly what you see, a design that needs more work.  I do not understand why the designers chose the letter “G” over Gatorade’s already existing icon.  They could have gone in a completely different direction by making the lightening bolt more prominent, which was already familiar to the consumers.  I would have to say that if no one can figure out who you are after watching your commercial, you clearly did not do you job as a designer.  You must keep the consumer on your side, but if they cannot figure out who you are then you do not have a fighting a chance.

I like the phrases that go with each flavor, but I think they could have been designed differently and produced a better package.  Some of them are hard to read because of the spacing, but I think that the chosen font works (just not for the”G”).

One more thing I found to be interesting was that people have supposedly been choosing Vitamin Water and Powerade over Gatorade if they do not relate to the athletic advertisements.  If this is true, Gatorade should consider expanding how they advertise.  This issue is addressed very well in the quote below.

“By the way, you don’t have to be sweaty and holding a basketball to enjoy a Gatorade. You could just be a thirsty dude. Gatorade forgets about this demographic. I’m thirsty for absolutely no reason. Other than the fact that liquid has not touched my lips for some time. Can I have a Gatorade too, or does that lightning bolt mean “No”?” – Mitch Hedberg

ZAXBY’S

Zaxby’s began when childhood friends Zach McLeroy and Tony Townley decided they were tired of bland chicken and restraunts lacking personality.  The physical restraunt that they created exibits all of the things they were searching for.  Each restraunt has personality not only in it’s structure but through the internal layout and interior decorations.  In additon, Zaxby’s is known for it’s  Zesty sauce.  Unfortunately, the logo does not reflect  any of these qualities.

The name of the company, the slogan, and the graphic are all fighting against each other.  The font chosen for Zaxby’s is a more dignified seriff font, while the slogan is in a scratchy hand drawn looking font (that looks like it was created by a chicken).  Neither of these fonts characterize the restraunt very well.  The logo needs a font that reflects the restraunt’s personality and is more up-to-date.

The worst part of the logo would have to be the graphic.  It looks like the company paid someone $35 to find an extraordinarily cheap clip art image.  It conflicts with the Zaxby’s font because it looks cheap in comparison, and it contrasts with the font used for the slogan because it looks too illustratory. Zaxby’s should strongly consider updating SOON! http://www.zaxbys.com/

Smiley’s Yarns

I found this logo as I was searching for an unappealing website for my web design    class.  From the website, the store appears to be based out of  Manhattan and possibly famous since 1935.  However, I find it hard to believe that this store has been famous since 1935.  It’s website is a disaster along with its logo.  On the website, boxes are flashing everywhere, and then there is this horrendous logo positioned in the top right corner.  It is so unattractive because of the font and possibly color choices.  The letters look hard and rock like in comparison to the soft, fuzzy thoughts that are generally accociated with yarn.  I think that a soft, curvy font would have been more appropriate, along with a softer color palette even though it might have been cheesy.   http://www.smileysyarns.com/

Luara Lynn

At some point in time everyone has been guilty of buying the cheap store brand, whether it was at Wal-Mart, Bi-Lo, Ingles, or any another store that has created their own brand.  In general, I have no problem with this because I am cheap and love to save money on things that look exactly the same.  However, I think that Ingles has tried a little too hard in creating their own brand and has failed.  Not only does Laura Lynn sound funny, but the logo looks cheap.  It looks like a shabby bread label pasted on every product in the store.   I think that the brand would be more affective for Ingles if it was not sooo southern sounding or looking.  http://www.ingles-markets.com/

Rite Aid

The first Rite Aid to appear was in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1962.  Over the past forty six years, Rite Aid has expanded its Corporation to become one of the nation’s leading drug store chains with more than 4900 stores and 109, 000 associates throughout 31 states and the District of Columbia with a large portion of their stores on the East and West Coasts. Rite Aid is the largest drugstore chain on the East Coast and the third largest drugstore chain in the U.S. The company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker RAD.

In Anderson, SC, we did not see the presence of Rite Aid until 2007 when Eckerd was bought out.  The change in the appearance of the store was barely  noticable.  The only exception was the obvious change in the name of other store.  Eckerd’s logo had its flaws, but at least it was not as blaaah as Rite Aid’s.  There’s nothing to it.  It’s a standard font in white on a blue background.  Anyone could have done this…. Supposedly, the new design created in 2004 was based off of customer feedback.  Still not impressed.  The store lacks personality along with its logo.    http://www.riteaid.com/company/about/history.jsf

Sunoco

I feel like I have heard of Sunoco….but I don’t recognize the logo.  Their website says that they are the official fuel of NASCAR, so in my opinion they should be more well known.  One possibility for not being well known is that their business has gone through many transformation since its birth in 1886.   Sunoco has been involved in everything from pipelines to shipping and from refining to marketing.  There is not much in the fuel business that they have not been a part of.  Before 1998, Sunco was known as Sun Oil Company.  This change occurred because the company was looking for a name that better reflected their principal business.

I think the name change was in the company’s best intrest because it’s shorter,  which makes it easier to remember and more visually appealing in a logo.  However, I’m not so sure about the logo.  I’m assuming the arrow’s purpose is to suggest  movement along with the other fading lines, but I honestly have no idea.  I think a diffetent color palette might also help the situation.  The primary colors and bold outlines make me think of a coloring book…. To be one of the leading oil refineries in America, one would think that they should have sufficient funds to update their logo and branding.http://www.sunocoinc.com/site/

http://www.wolda.org/showcase?page=2

http://best-ad.blogspot.com/2008/08/evolution-of-logos.html

I’m kind of partial to begin with on this logo, simply because I love playing the game.  However, it is still a good logo from an artistic point of view.  The designers clearly knew what their target audience was and did an excellent job of presenting their product.  They used a rock looking typeface and then put a lot of color in the background to catch the buyer’s eye. Not only are the graphics in the game designed well, but so is the website.

Tobo is a new local Slovenian wooden coat hanger manufacturer.  The coat hangers are made of natural wood and only varnished.  I like the design because of the tree that is incorporated into name of the company.  It helps tell who the company is and what their purpose is.  The overall design is very simple but elegant just like the product.

This logo was created for a floral and funeral decorations specialist, Natalia, from Russia.  Her goal was to express the sadness of mourning.  I think the designer captured the emotion of sadness, death and maybe depression effectively with the dead flower.  I like the font, but I’m not entirely sure it was the best choice.  It seems a little too spread out.

I’m not entirely sure why I like this logo so much, but the fact that it is a chocolate smudge could have something to do with it.  The creator said it was just an accident, but it looks like something that was planned and possibly painted.  Either way, if I had a chocolate company I would totally put this on my label.  I’m glad the designer didn’t also decide to write the text in chocolate.  That would have been incredibly hard to read.  The mix of text from the computer and smeared chocolate creates a very balanced design.

I think that this logo works well because of the font and the way each letter is arranged.  The font is simple enough to let the letters look like they are shifting with the “i”. This motion is a result of all the letters being capitalized except for the lower case “i” and the bright blue on a black background.   Finally, the kerning is wondrful because the letters aren’t too close to make the design look cramped or too far away to lose the energy created by the “i”.   Overall, this is a great design.

….I can’t believe I forgot my favorite fast food place.

As the battle between Coke and Pepsi continues, so does Pepsi’s attempts at trying to “out design” Coke. This past fall Arnell and Pepsi’s in house designers tried once again to out do Coke’s classic design but fell short. The goal of the rebranding was to “to refresh Pepsi’s communications and to reinvigorate Pepsi’s legacy of leading-edge advertising.”  Unfortunately, I think they tried too hard and missed the mark.

Many designers agree and think that it is too simple for Pepsi’s soft drink, and that it doesn’t reflect the product well.  Some designers have even stated that the rebranding appears to be executed by beginning designers.  The idea of simplicity was good and might have worked, but it was executed poorly (or rather not to its full potential).   Even though the majority of designers do not like the rebranding, there is still one critic who finds the design to have several redeeming qualities in the font and color choice. To Pepsi’s advantage, it avoided red due to its accociation with Coke, and it has begun to use navy blue as its dominant color.  Another critic also said that ” Pepsi has always tried to appeal to the younger “hipper” crowd”, so maybe the younger generations will appreciate this minimalistic style.

I like the idea behind the rebranding, but I’m not sure if I like the fact that it is so different. It certainly doesn’t look like Coke las many of the earlier Pepsi designs, but in the rebranding process Pepsi has lost it’s identity.  The new cans no longer use the Pepsi blue as a dominant color, the original logo, or its signature font.   I like the font on the pepsi, sierra mist, and diet pepsi, but not necessarily for this product.  It doesn’t express the excitement and enthusiasum there should be for drinking a Pepsi.  In addition, the font bothers me because it is used on all the products except for Mtn Dew.  The Mountain Dew label has a simplistic feel, but it’s design is almost too different. I think they should have added the font seen in the other three designs to the existing Mountain Dew design in some way to make it more cohesive with the others.